The Proteas went through their group matches unbeaten at the ICC T20 World Cup following a far from convincing 1-run win against Nepal in Kingstown, Saint Vincent.

South Africa had a bat first in the historic first-ever match between the two nations, however, they managed to limp to 115/7 in their allotted 20-overs.

Reeza Hendricks top-scored for South Africa with 43-runs off 49, while Tristan Stubbs was unbeaten on 27.

In reply, the Nepalese fell-short by just a single run despite 42-runs by the wicketkeeper Aasif Sheikh and 27 by Anil Shah.

Had it not been for the stellar effort with the ball by the spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, South Africa, may have found themselves on the other side of the result.

Shamsi, who has plenty of experience in the Caribbean to 4/19 in his 4-overs. The captain Aiden Markram took 1/8 in 2-overs while Anrich Nortjé took 1/27.

The Protas skipper, Aiden Markram, said it’s important that they learn from their mistakes in the game, but credit also need to go the way of their counterparts from the Himalayas.

“I wasn’t overly chuffed at the half way stage,” said the captain Markram.

“Pretty much as a whole tonight, I thought we were probably nowhere near our best and just lacked a bit of intensity and conviction in how we want to play in our game plans and things like that.

“But like I mentioned out on the field, you have to give a lot of credit to the Nepal team, they put us under a lot of pressure, they showed the quality that they are and have in their changeroom and made life really difficult for us.

“So, we'll take lots of learnings from a night like this, as I'm sure they would as well. They'll also take a lot of confidence from really having us on the ropes.”

The Proteas next game will be on 19 June against the USA in North Sound.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport